Subwoofers and aquariums?

octopus44 said:

As the title suggests I have a somewhat odd question.

I have a 75 gallon tank which sits right next to my desk. I am getting a new surround sound speaker setup for my computer which of course comes with a subwoofer. It will be sitting about 3 feet from the tank. My question is this: Can the vibrations from the subwoofer affect the structural integrity of my aquarium? I should note that I am on the second floor of a house.

The last thing I need is 75 gallons of water pouring down on my neighbors below me.

Any insight is appreciated.

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i think you will be ok!! 75G with water thats still alot of weight. if you subwoofer is so loud and high output like a earth quake ,then i'll be a lil worried but if in that case it will blow your ear too .

i have almost the exact same setup (surround sound speakers with a subwoofer next to my desk), except that i also have my guitar amp on top of the subwoofer and my tank is a 10g (so its smaller, but that probably means the glass is weaker, so idk whether this information would be useful, but hopefully it will be), not a 75g. I turn up my music and my guitar REALLY loud once in a while, and my tank is still in one piece without any leaks or anything.

Thanks for the input. That puts my mind at ease :smile:.

I'm not an acoustic engineer, but I think water dampens vibrations. So, the tank of water shouldn't ever resonate with the sonic vibration. The glass could resonate, but the water behind it should dampen that very well.

Much more important is the selection of music to be played: I recommend Handel's Water Music.

my sub used to sit less than 2 feet from my 55. and i like bass a lot! i think you'll be good

the water dampens the vibes and prevents cracking/breakage.

its the same reason why you can cut glass with scissors under water without shattering.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2RLzzNNNwg

the tank will be ok, but do you think it will stress the fishes if you had a 5 hr playlist of music?

r u kidding! LMAO

Hoppy said:

Much more important is the selection of music to be played: I recommend Handel's Water Music.

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I, on the other hand, would recommend Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water." :thumbsup:

You all are great! Thanks for the input.

Hey, did you see that mythbusters episode where the plants grew faster when played heavy metal! Maybe there could be some positive effects from the sub on your plants.

frogmanjared said:

Hey, did you see that mythbusters episode where the plants grew faster when played heavy metal! Maybe there could be some positive effects from the sub on your plants.

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Wow! I'll running to the living room and I am gonna play slayer's raining blood to my fishies I will keep you updated:flick:

frogmanjared said:

Hey, did you see that mythbusters episode where the plants grew faster when played heavy metal! Maybe there could be some positive effects from the sub on your plants.

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I can already picture the new product line from ADA. :hihi:

I have read that some of my fish do not like alot of noise. I haven't seen this happen at all. As for integrety, my 29 gallon is in my home studio. I don't often use a sub but I mix at more than normal listening volume (as do most people) and I do it all day. I wouldn't be worried unless you have a big, ported sub, not for structual reasons, just because the vibrations may be hard on fish. Or, maybe it is the opposite, maybe they get use to it. Either way, I probably have louder music than most next to my tank and I haven't seen any negative cosiquences.

If your neighbors don't object to your sub-woofers; they would not be doused with 75G of tank water ------ and if they do then they might get a wash :hihi:

I came across a study where they found that dairy cattle appreciate Mozart, I don't know about fishes appreciating Handel.

although the water dampens the vibrations and protects the glass, the lateral lines on fish are supposed to be able to sense vibrations in the water from other fish and what-not arent they? i'm sure they can feel it and if the lateral line is that sensative i'm sure it messes with the fish.

essabee said:

If your neighbors don't object to your sub-woofers; they would not be doused with 75G of tank water ------ and if they do then they might get a wash :hihi:

I came across a study where they found that dairy cattle appreciate Mozart, I don't know about fishes appreciating Handel.

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I suspect some fish prefer Debussy's La Mer. (So many promising research projects that could be done, if only one had the time!):wink:

I played that Slayer's tune. Result- no headbanging observed in fishes nor shrimps

stupid fish dont appreciate anything